The
For family, friends, and alumni of Cistercian Preparatory School
Summer 2007
Life and death How Cistercian doctors handle medicine’s most difficult situations
Dr. Stephen Johnston ’71, cardiologist at Baylor Hospital.
The Memorare Society was established for members of our community who wish to include Cistercian in their financial plans through bequests, trusts, wills, or other means. It’s a wonderful way for people to include the school as part of their long-term financial planning.
As a member of the Memorare Society, you’ll enable us to continue educating Cistercian students and the Abbey’s young monks for many years. All while ensuring your legacy with Cistercian for generations to come. After all, Memorare means “remember.”
To find out if the Memorare Society is right for you and your family, simply contact Jennifer Rotter in the Development Office today. All enquiries are welcome. Call 469-499-5406, or send an email to jrotter@cistercian.org.
The importance of character It plays a key role in our mission as it does in each of our three stories
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CISTERCIAN PREPARATORY SCHOOL Rev. Peter Verhalen ’73 Headmaster
Rev. Bernard Marton Assistant Headmaster
Greg Novinski ’82 Dean of Students
Robert J. Haaser Director of Admissions
Christine Medaille Director of Studies
Janet Bucher-Long College Counselor
Jennifer Rotter Director of Development and Alumni Relations
Dan Lee Director of Athletics
Mark Roppolo ’88 President, Cistercian Alumni Association
elcome to the first full-color edition of The Continuum. We hope the vivid pages will attract your interest and enhance your enjoyment of our stories about the Cistercian community. We also have modified our publishing schedule to twice yearly, summer and winter. The new schedule will help us to offer more complete coverage of sports and important events like the Ring Ceremony and Commencement. In this edition Dr. Tom Letter from Pruit shares with us the story the headmaster of Michael Montoya ’07, this Fr. Peter Verhalen ’73 year’s valedictorian whose achievements stand out even among those of the valedictorians before him. The traits, however, that make Michael so successful also describe most Cistercian alumni.
volume 34, number 2
Rt. Rev. Denis Farkasfalvy Rev. Julius Leloczky Rev. Robert Maguire Rev. Bernard Marton Rev. Benedict Monostori Rev. Peter Verhalen ’73 David C. Haley James J. Hartnett Dr. Robert J. Henderson James M. Moroney III ’74 Peter P. Smith ’74 Jere W. Thompson, Jr. ’74
continuum
David Stewart ’74 Copy Editor
Sally L. Cook Assistant Copy Editor
Jim Reisch Photography Editor The continuum is published twice a year (winter and summer) by Cistercian Preparatory School.
3660 Cistercian Road Irving, TX 75039 469-499-5400 www.cistercian.org
Summer 2007
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Cistercian doctors share the strains and the insights of dealing with one of medicine’s (and human nature’s) most delicate moments.
Heavy weight
Finding light 12 An uncoventional therapy served patient and doctor equally well.
departments
16
Editor & Art Director
Tom B. Pruit
in this issue
Life and death
School Board
The
In our lead feature, you’ll learn about some remarkable Cistercian doctors who handle lifethreatening medical issues on a regular basis. Their empathy and dedication to treating the entire patient — both the spiritual and the physical — will inspire you. Don’t miss Smokey Briggs’ counterpoint to the feature in which he wonders about the consequences of jobs that threaten to leave us little time for family, friends, and fun. Our three stories speak to the importance of character that we strive to instill in our students through the truth of revelation, the rigor of theology, and the compassion of priests and teachers who truly care for their students. Check the news section where you’ll read that Fr. Abbot handed out the 1000th Cistercian diploma at this year’s Commencement Ceremony. This edition of The Continuum makes me proud to be a Cistercian teacher and one of the 1,000+ alumni. I trust you will feel the same.
Presidential Scholar Michael Montoya ’07 set some academic and weight-lifting records at Cistercian that may never be broken.
School News ................................4-9 Sports .......................................18-19 Class Notes ..............................19-21 Afterthoughts by Smokey Briggs........23 On Prayer by Fr. Roch Kereszty ..........24 Calendar ........................................24 Cover photography: Jim Reisch
Cistercian Preparatory School was founded with the aim of preparing talented boys for the colleges of their choice by challenging their minds with excellent academic programs, molding their character through the values of Catholic education, and offering them guidance with both understanding and discipline. Cistercian Preparatory School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational practices, admissions, scholarship programs, and athletic and other school administered programs.
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Scholarships
Class of ’07 welcomes many generous offers This year’s seniors enthusiastically attacked college scholarship opportunities. “Nearly half of this year’s senior class said they’d need some kind of financial assistance,” said Janet Bucher-Long, Cistercian’s college counselor. “And the boys really were aggressive in pursuing every opportunity.” Thirty-three of the 40 seniors were offered merit scholarships of one type or another. “These scholarships were awarded to students from the top to the bottom of the class,”
Bucher-Long added. “They demonstrate the quality of our seniors and the quality of a Cistercian education.” In all, over 103 scholarships were offered to this year’s senior class with a total value of $3.5 million. This figure includes several four-year scholarship offers, but does not include the potential four-year impact of 62 renewable scholarships. In the end, 19 of the 40 seniors will use a total of $584,999 in renewable scholarship funds for their freshman year. Five colleges awarded their most prestigious and competitive (i.e., fouryear guaranteed, full-ride) scholarships to four different Cistercian seniors. Of those,
Photos by Michelle Prengle
cistercian news
Reunions Weekend fun (Above, l-r) Brothers Jeremy Gregg ’97 and Br. Stephen (Andrew Gregg ’01) catch up with each other. (Left) Mike Kurilecz ’71 and daughter Maggie mug for the camera. See more photos from Reunions Weekend at www.cistercian.org/ school/. Michael Montoya ’07 accepted
the Reynolds Scholarship worth
Class of 2007 split on leaving Texas College destinations as of May 15, 2007 Texas vs. the rest
47.5%
52.5%
TEXAS
THE REST
Traveling in groups to ... Baylor................................ 2 Notre Dame ..................... 2 Princeton ......................... 2 Rice .................................... 4 Santa Clara U................... 2 SMU ................................... 2 Stanford ........................... 2 Texas A&M ....................... 4 Trinity................................ 2 University of Dallas........ 3 UT Austin*........................ 2 Wake Forest ..................... 2 * One to Plan II
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Traveling solo to ... Bard College Boston College Emory University Fordham University Kenyon College MIT
Rhodes College St. Louis University University of Oklahoma U. of Southern California Washington University
$200,000 from Wake Forest (one of four offered nationally), and Alex Tong ’07 accepted the Bellingrath Fellowship worth $152,476 from Rhodes College (one of three offered nationally). H.T. Flanagan ’07 won the Presidential Scholarship from SMU, the school’s top scholarship worth $123,520 but chose to attend Washington University in St. Louis where he received a similar offer. Erik Tanner ’07 won the Wells Scholarship from Indiana University, the school’s top scholarship worth $90,240, but chose to attend Rice where he received a comparable offer. Stephen Fox ’07 accepted Fordham University’s scholarship offer of $140,000. “This year’s seniors showed a lot of initiative and accepted the responsibility of applying for all these scholarships,” she said. “The guys really went after them and it paid off handsomely.” Eighty percent of the class’s college applications were returned with acceptances. “This is a tribute to the school’s reputation which Fr. Bernard so ably established as college counselor for 24 years,” The Continuum
cistercian news Hillary Award winner
Photo by Jim Reisch
said Bucher-Long. “Without his efforts,” she added, “these kinds of results would not have been possible.” Ten of the 40 seniors will attend Catholic universities, including Boston College (1), Fordham (1), Notre Dame (2), Santa Clara (2), the University of Dallas (3), and Washington University in St. Louis (1).
Chase Campbell ’07 received the Tom Hillary Award at this year’s athletic banquet. The Hillary Award, named after legendary Cistercian coach Tom Hillary, signifies both academic and athletic excellence. Campbell plans to play football at Princeton along with Matthew Abola ’07. Two other members of the Class of ’07 plan to play baseball in college: H.T. Flanagan ’07 at Washington University and Patrick Flanigan ’07 at Trinity University.
“The Time of Your Life” a tour de force Wide range of eccentric characters showcases talented acting troupe This year’s Upper School drama, “The Time of Your Life” by California playwright William Saroyan, provided ample opportunities for the company’s many fine actors to show their stuff. Taking place in a San Francisco bar and restaurant in the late thirties, the play revolves around Joe (played by Philip Tarpley ’08), a mysteriously wealthy man
who appears terribly bored with his life but quite interested in the lives of others. While Joe sits and drinks champagne, a slew of strange characters swirl around him. Irascible bartender/proprietor Nick (Paul DiFiore ’09), lady of the night Kitty Duval (Teresa Amador, Ursuline ’07), failed comedian/dancer Harry (Will Arbery ’07), lovestruck Dudley Bostwick (Pablo
Muldoon ’09), and Joe’s lackey Tom (Philip Schnorbach ’08) run about, living their
lives as Joe sits and observes, pretending to be above it all. But Murphy (played hilariously by Scott Kinard ’08) and his loud stories of fantastic feats capture the play and subdue Joe’s sense of superiority. When Murphy takes matters into his own hands at the climax of the play and shoots crooked cop Blick (Nathan Helms ’07), he proves that his life actually may have been as fantastic as he claimed. And he personifies Saroyan’s thrust: “In the time of our life, live — so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.”
ECCENTRICS ALL This year’s drama created a tableau for the likes of Scott Kinard ’08 (left) and (above, left to right) Paul DiFiore ’09, Will Arbery ’07, Pablo Muldoon ’09, and Philip Tarpley ’08. Photos by Jim Reisch
Summer 2007
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cistercian news Renovation
Montoya becomes Cistercian’s second Presidential Scholar
A new kind of flush for the Middle School bathrooms
Michael Montoya ’07 ended his remarkable Cistercian career by being named one of the nation’s 141 Presidential Scholars for 2007. Jim von der Heydt ’92 is the only other Cistercian student to receive this prestigious honor. In late June, Montoya and the other recipients will travel to the White House to receive their gold medals from the President and the Secretary of Education. Montoya also was a finalist for the extremely prestigious Davey
Photo by Jim Reisch
Special honor
Michael Montoya ’07 O’Brien Award (for scholarathletes). Robert Schoenvogel ’95 is the only Cistercian student ever to win that honor. A total of seven students from Texas were honored as Presidential Scholars this year. Four of these were Presidential Scholars in the Arts. See page 16 for our feature on Montoya.
noteworthy Rice University Mathematics Tournament This event, the de facto state high school math championship, attracted over two dozen of Texas’s finest math teams. Cistercian’s team, led by seniors Matt Escoto ’07, Michael Montoya ’07, Derek Reiman ’07, Joseph Simmons ’07, Alex Tong ’07, and Stephen Wang ’07, finished in third place. National Merits An impressive total of 28 out of 40 seniors, or 70 percent, received National Merit recognition this year (14 Commended and 14 Finalists). Junior Engineering Technical Society Cistercian competes in Division 2 — private and public magnet schools nationwide with graduating classes up to 500 students. The Cistercian Varsity team represented Texas, placing first in Regionals, first in State and 11th in Nationals. Reflections 2006 Cistercian’s literary and art magazine received the highest award — First Place with Special Merit — in the competition sponsored by the American Scholastic Press Association. Reflections also was one of only 13 literary magazines nationwide to win the prestigious Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Congratulations to editors Will Arbery ’07 and H. T. Flanagan ’07. Commencement Exercises Thomas Hibbs, dean of the Honors College at Baylor, spoke at graduation. With a Master’s from UD and a Ph.D. from Notre Dame, he previously taught at Boston College. He has written scholarly works on subjects ranging from St. Thomas Aquinas to popular culture. Hibbs challenged the graduates to continue questing — like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Approximately 1,000 attended the ceremonies. Junior monks Br. Abraham and Br. Joseph received their Master’s degrees in theology from UD in May.
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After more than 40 years, the Middle School bathroom will be renovated this summer. In addition to the new look, the remodeled lavatory will feature waterless urinals. “I am excited about doing our part in conserving resources,” said Fr. Peter Verhalen ’73, “and I hope the move teaches the boys
to be conscious in their use of non-renewable resources.” Funds for the renovation will come from Sustentation, which generated $552,799 in gifts and pledges — the first time Cistercian has ever crossed the half-million mark in Sustentation history. Parent percent participation also reached another all-time high at 98 percent, with five of the eight forms reaching 100 percent. This year’s Phonathon raised $143,524 for Cistercian scholarships, with 37 percent participation by our alumni.
JIM & LYNN MORONEY AWARD
Heart-warming evening at the Mo Jim Bloodgood ’74 honored as one of Cistercian’s great success stories
“H
aven’t enough graduates from the Class of ’74 received this award?” David Stewart ’74 asked the throng of Cistercian parents, teachers, and alumni gathered for the annual Jim and Lynn Moroney Award at the Tower Club on Feb. 16.
The Continuum
See photos of Frs. Pascal and Matthew in 1957 at cistercian.org/school
Golden anniversaries
The Class of ’07 includes Cistercian’s 1,000th graduate
Fr. Matthew and Fr. Pascal celebrate 50 years as priests
Alden Harris ’07 took the long-awaited prize for having pushed Cistercian’s alumni base into four digits. Forty-five years since its founding in 1962, and 37 years since the first graduating class, Cistercian has reached the big time. Based on the current size of
Photo by Jim Reisch
Landmark alum
Alden Harris ’07 the average graduating class (about 42 boys over the last seven years), it will take only another 23 years (in the year 2030), before Cistercian can boast of its 2,000th alumnus.
Stewart pointed out that by adding Jim Bloodgood ’74 to a list that includes Peter Smith ’74, Jere Thompson ’74, Billy Hassell ’74, and Jim Moroney ’74, nearly a quarter of the 21 members of the Class of 1974 have received the coveted award. But as the graduate that many consider Cistercian’s greatest success story, Bloodgood was bound to join the elite fraternity. Bloodgood’s trademark work ethic emerged as a sophomore when he became the first Cistercian student to pay his way through —Jim Bloodgood ’74 the school by working around campus. Then he worked his way through college by loading trucks on the docks of Consolidated Freight. By the time he received a job offer in the banking industry, there wasn’t a young banker out there who was more motivated to work harder or longer than Jim Bloodgood. He rose quickly through the ranks. Jim currrently serves as Manager of Commercial and Private Bank Lending for Amegy Bank in Dallas. In 2005, classmate Peter Smith gave Bloodgood a call. The abbey and the school were preparing to purchase a piece of property that would insulate the school from future development and provide flexibility for growth. The school needed help in securing financing. Bloodgood worked quickly to put the loan together. In accepting the award, Bloodgood felt compelled to clarify a story told by last year’s winner. “While I appreciated Moroney mentioning last year that I
Fr. Pascal Kis-Horvath and Fr. Matthew Kovacs will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their ordinations as priests on Sunday, August 12, 2007, at 10:30 am in the Cistercian Church. Both priests were ordained on July 21, 1957, in the Cistercian Monastery in Zwettl, Austria, after having escaped Hungary in
cistercian news November of 1956. Fr. Pascal came to the U.S. in 1960 and served as Abbot Anselm’s subprior for many years. He was a favorite of parishioners at St. Monica’s, where he performed pastoral work for decades. Fr. Matthew came to the U.S. in 1959 and began teaching at the prep school in 1962. He has taught virtually every single graduate of Cistercian. His trademark sense of humor and infectious enthusiasm for Latin and Roman culture have rubbed off on each of his students.
“This is a community like no other. Like everyone in this room, I welcome the opportunity to give back. You are kind beyond words for recognizing my efforts.”
GOOD LAUGHS Jim Bloodgood ’74 and his family enjoy remarks by David Stewart ’74, who introduced the 2007 Moroney Award winner. Summer 2007 Photos by Jim Reisch
brought home a large souvenir [from our Texas History trip in Form IV], I’d like to point out that he failed to mention the log was eight feet long. Therefore, it took two people to load it on the bus. He was at the other end.” Bloodgood recalled the day he drove to the monastery to ask Fr. Denis if he could re-enroll after having spent his freshman year at Cary Junior High in Dallas. “He asked if I had any way to pay tuition,” Bloodgood recalled. “I immediately said no. “Clearly, I gave Fr. Denis little to work with. Yet he asked if I would consider working at the school, primarily over the summer, to offset tuition.” “While overshadowed by many of my Ivy League classmates,” Bloodgood said, “I looked at all of them as my friends who never acted better than me and truly took an interest in everyone’s success. I had learned to focus on the end product…what you can become. And never how I compared to them.” 7
Giants of Cistercian’s first 50 years Very different men who shared a passion for Catholic education
I
n the first half of 2007, Cistercian lost two preeminent lay supporters. Bryan F. Smith and James M. Moroney, Jr. will long be remembered as two of the most generous benefactors the school has ever known. But the scope of their contributions extended well beyond the money they lavished on the school. Smith’s decisive actions in 1961 helped turn the inspiration of three women and the hopes of Abbot Anselm into a workable plan for success. Smith rolled over obstacles. Early in 1961, the idea of a school operated by the Cistercians ran into a road block. Preoccupied with raising funds for Bishop Lynch and Bishop Dunne high schools (and with issues related to Cistercian’s role at UD), Bishop Thomas K. Gorman was not at all inclined to approve the establishment of a Catholic school operated by the Cistercians at that time. “Bea [Haggerty] and I had to sit on the bishop’s desk, literally,” Smith recalled in 2002. “We would not let the subject drop; we kept him on the case.” This marked the first of countless times that Smith’s resolve would play a key role in the school’s development in the ensuing 46 years. As general counsel and chief financial officer for Texas Instruments, the New Jersey native and Harvard grad brought keen analytical abilities to each issue, along with the abrasive style that earned him the moniker, “The Wolf.” “He always did his homework,” said Peter Smith ’74 of his father. “He did not jump to conclusions before he had examined an issue thoroughly.” “More than any lay person I knew,” said Jim Moroney III ’74, who served on the school board with Smith for over 15 years,
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“he understood that the abbey and the school were at the same time both separate, and yet indivisible from each other.” A great friend and confidant of Abbot Anselm, Smith held opinions that were never personal, but based on serving the long-term goals of the institution. He mentored Fr. Denis Farkasfalvy when he took over as
Bryan F. Smith 1920 — 2007 headmaster at age 32, and did the same with Fr. Bernard Marton and Fr. Peter Verhalen. “His was a life-long passion and commitment,” Moroney said. “His genuine concern for the school’s well-being never flagged.” More than just a founder, benefactor, and the longest-serving lay school board member, Smith influenced virtually every major decision in the school’s formative years. He stands out as the most important layman in the history of the abbey and school.
Smith also helped Cistercian during his years at the University of Dallas, where he served on the board from 1965-1991. As the chancellor (and acting interim president) of the University of Dallas in 1976-78, he significantly increased the salaries of the Cistercian monks and other religious faculty, bringing them closer to those of their lay counterparts. “In the early years, he made a very strong statement by entrusting the education of his five sons to Cistercian,” said Abbot Denis. “That faith was rewarded when three enrolled at Harvard, one at Yale, and one at Washington & Lee.” “But from the beginning, he seemed to be looking well beyond the time when his fifth son graduated. He was committed to helping Cistercian flourish and become an institution that would last.” “He believed,” emphasized Abbot Denis, “that the school must deliver on its promises. He used his rough and tough behavior to push us constantly on this. And he insisted we take a very careful, thoughtful approach. That was one of his greatest influences.” In the fall of 2006, the 86year-old Smith was asked by the abbot to address the novices. In this final opportunity to influence future events, he impressed upon the next generation the important legacy that they are carrying forward. In the end, his message was as blunt as the advice he famously gave Fr. Bernard in the eighties, “Don’t screw it up.” Dallas-native James M. Moroney, Jr. became involved in Cistercian gradually as his sons (Jim ’74 and Michael ’77) progressed through the school. “If Bryan was connected to the whole institution of the abbey and the school,” Jim Moroney said, “my father was connected
The Continuum
through the monks.” “He admired both Fr. Denis (Jim’s form master) and Fr. Bernard (Michael’s form master) and he was grateful for what they did for his sons and then, by extension, what he knew they did for the other boys who attended the school.” “This was characteristic of him,” the younger Moroney said. “He described organizations and institutions by the people who led them.” An accomplished newspaper and broadcasting executive, Moroney brought his significant influence and substantial people skills to bear on behalf of Cistercian. Two incidents in the seventies and eighties played key roles in the long-term success of Cistercian, one for the school and one for the abbey. For its first 10 years in Irving, the school was located off an unnamed exit on State Highway 114. The sign simply read, “Exit.” As the headmaster in those days, Fr. Denis explored various means of persuading the highway department to name the exit “Cistercian Road.” But after repeated attempts, Fr. Denis acknowledged that the red tape required to effect such a change appeared endless. In stepped Moroney. Employing a connection with a state senator, Moroney managed to have the road renamed and the sign erected. The sign debuted in the fall of 1975. For a still-small school with a funny name and an out-of-the-way location, the sign helped visitors immensely. But equally as important, the sign created new visibility for Cistercian, even if people still butchered the name’s pronunciation. “This sign has been a great help for the decades that followed,” said Abbot Denis, “and has helped to make Cistercian more or less a household name in Dallas.” Moroney also made a dramatic impact on the Cistercians through his role as chairman of the board of trustees of the
Summer 2007
“Mr. Moroney impressed me as gracious, accepting, and patient. ‘The Wolf’ was more an ‘in your face’ stickler who was not shy about expressing himself.” — Buck Smith ’71 University of Dallas from 1988-2001. Midway through his tenure as president of the University of Dallas from 1981 to 1995, Dr. Robert F. Sasseen began to believe that the Cistercians had seen better days. He sought to begin retiring them. Fr. Denis, who had just been named
James M. Moroney, Jr. 1921 — 2007 abbot in 1988, met with Sasseen and Moroney to discuss the issue. Fortunately for the abbey, it took just a few softly spoken words from Moroney to nip Sasseen’s plan in the bud. “The most important people on the UD campus are the Cistercians,” Moroney explained to the president. The issue was settled. “This comment made a world of difference in the way the Cistercians were treated from that point forward,” said Abbot Denis. “In his very friendly way,
Mr. Moroney was a great supporter of the Cistercians.” While Messrs. Smith and Moroney shared a love for Catholic education and Cistercian in particular, their personalities and styles differed greatly. “Mr. Mo always impressed me as someone who was gracious, accepting, and patient, without compromising an underlying expectation for excellent results,” said Buck Smith ’71. “On the other end of the personality spectrum, ‘The Wolf’ was more an ‘in your face’ stickler who was not shy about expressing himself in very clear terms, especially if he disagreed with someone or something that stood in the way of a desired result.” “After all,” he added, “one doesn’t garner a handle like ‘The Wolf’ without demonstrating a rather tenacious personality.” “Interestingly, their divergent personalities did not prevent these fellows from sharing a warm appreciation for each other or from being able to work together effectively to achieve commonly shared goals. “I always got a kick out of the fact that Mr. Mo commonly addressed Dad as ‘The Wolf’ and Dad seemed to like it. Both of these guys seemed to know where the bottom line was. They just got to it in slightly different styles.” Smith seemed to enjoy his hard-nosed reputation that disguised a genuinely soft heart, especially when it came to Cistercian. And the affable Moroney never failed to stand strong in the crunch. Both will be remembered fondly and for a very long time around Cistercian. — David E. Stewart
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Life and death Cistercian doctors share the strains and insights of dealing with the most difficult moments medicine can muster by David E. Stewart
“C
AN I REALLY do this?” Mark Shrime ’92 mumbled half to himself and half to his wife as they walked along a Manhattan street. Still in residency, Shrime was in shock after hearing about one of his patients.
Dr. Mark Shrime ‘92, a surgical oncologist, at work in an operating room at the University of Toronto Hospital.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Mark Shrime ’92
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“That patient and I had had amazing conversations,” Shrime recalled recently. “Questions about Kierkegaard peppered our conversations about cancer. “Initially she had had a relatively easyto-treat disease, but she declined western, allopathic treatment (in favor of a more holistic approach),” he explained. “She returned to see us about four months afterwards, with a tumor three times its original size. We excised it, spent a good five hours reconstructing the region of her face from which it came. And she recurred within six weeks. Everywhere. “The day I found out about her recurrence, I was devastated.” Now practicing head and neck surgical The Continuum
oncology at the University of Toronto Hospital, Shrime continues to face up to the strains of battling the awesome opponent that is cancer. “Half the people who walk into my office won’t be alive in five years,” confided Shrime, whose work hours are brutal, even by doctor’s standards. He usually arrives at the office at 5 am and doesn’t return home until 9 pm. An average operation takes about 10 hours. Long ones take 18 or 19 hours. “Life and death issues are a daily part of my practice.” “I didn’t realize going in what I was in for,” he said of his specialty. “It’s a vocation, no two ways about it. It demands your life. That’s good in some ways. It gives you a purpose. But if you’re not careful, it swallows all of you.” “When I was starting out,” said cardiologist Dr. Michael Morgan ’84, “it was extremely taxing. I would stew on what role I had in the outcome and what I might have done differently. “Now I have more confidence in my ability and realize that I have only so many tools at my disposal, and if I caused no obvious harm and helped create a situation that optimized the patient’s chances of recovery, I have done what I can. “I still may feel poorly about the outcome because many of these people are your friends,” he added. “You have known them for years and you feel their loss. I just haven’t tortured myself about outcomes in a long time.”
The last few days of a loved one’s life can take their toll on family and doctor alike. As a resident, cardiologist Dr. Mark Peterman ’92 removed an elderly woman, who was not expected to recover, from the ventilator according to her living will. But she continued to breathe. “Her children had all gathered and expected her to pass quickly,” Peterman recalled, “and they became anxious that the inevitable come to pass. “Her daughter asked me if I could do anything to hasten her
“My greatest moments are when patients leave my office feeling better about their future.” — Dr. Steve Johnston ’71 death. I told her that all we could do was to eliminate her pain and let nature take its course. “She died a day later, but during that time, every dose of morphine I ordered felt like euthanasia. In my mind, I debated whether I was treating the patient or the family. “I struggled with guilt for days after this and only achieved peace after going to confession, where the priest assured me I had done nothing wrong. Still, absolution was liberating. I still don’t know if there is a way not to second-guess your actions in a situation such as this. Here is where ethics and morality diverge.”
In times of trouble Cistercian doctors who face life-and-death situations in their practice Doctor
Class
Field
Practicing in
Medical school
James Bush
‘73
Internal Medicine
Fort Collins, CO
UT Southwestern
Angel Gomez
‘91
Internal Medicine
Phoenix
UT Galveston
David Hines
‘72
Infectious disease
Chicago
Rush Medical School
Stephen Johnston
‘71
Cardiology
Dallas (Baylor)
UT San Antonio
Donald Kopf
‘85
Psychology
Honolulu, Hawaii
Texas Tech
Jeremy Long
‘90
Chief Med. Resident
Denver
Wake Forest
J. Michael Morgan
‘84
Cardiology
Phoenix
UT Galveston
Kittu Parekh
‘90
Gastroenterology
Raleigh, NC
UT Southwestern
Mark Peterman
‘92
Cardiology
Dallas (Baylor)
UT Southwestern
Nick T. Reynolds
‘97
Family practice
Durant, OK
Kansas City University
Joseph Shelton
‘91
Gastroenterology
Fort Worth
Mark Shrime
‘92
Surgical Oncology
Toronto Canada
UT Southwestern
Derek R. Smith
‘82
Neurology
Norwich, CT
UT Southwestern
Stefan Thiele
‘89
General surgery
Tyler, TX
UT Galveston
Baylor (Houston)
We apologize for any errors or omissions. Please send corrections or additions to jrotter@cistercian.org.
Summer 2007
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I
t was beginning to look a lot like Christmas around Chicago on this Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving. By the time Dr. David Hines ’72, an infectious disease doctor, arrived in Guillermo’s room at Our Lady of the Resurrection Hospital around 5 pm, he had seen all his new consults and completed his notes on everyone else. He would be able to enjoy a few minutes with one of his favorite patients and still have just enough time to drive to the airport to pick up his wife’s relatives, who were arriving for the holiday. “Maestro Guillermo,” as Hines referred to him, was an HIV victim whose lifestyle had alienated Guillermo’s Cuban family back in Florida. He was living, and now suffering, very much alone in Chicago. For the past week, he had been treated for the Kaposi’s lesions (malignant tumors of the blood vessels) that encircled his legs. Hines expected to discharge him in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was unclear whether the day of gratitude would hold any meaning for him. “A quick note will suffice,” Hines remembered thinking on his way to Guillermo’s room. Social services could then make outpatient arrangements. Hines knew, however, that Guillermo’s quick mind often produced rapid-fire questions for his red-headed doctor. “Our agreement was that for every question I answered,” Hines said, “the maestro taught me a new word in Spanish.”
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being positive with my patients. Often the most powerful tool in my medicine box is just being positive. My greatest moments are when patients leave my office feeling better about their future.” For an oncologist like Shrime, it can be more difficult to be positive. “I think that communicating with patients and family in these situations is the most difficult part of my job,” said Shrime. “No two patients are the same,” he explained, “so the hard part is trying to figure out what they will respond to. Some people say, ‘What are my chances?’ Others don’t want to know. They just want to be taken care of.” “The line between doctor and priest is never as blurred as it is in the situation in which you have to inform a patient that what they have is truly cancer, and is something that may well kill them. “At all points in the patient-physician relationship,” Shrime added, “you treat the physical as well as the psychic and spiritual.” But you won’t find any courses in medical school on handling those difficult moments when the psychic and spiritual needs of patients and their families tower over their medical issues.
As expected, Guillermo peppered Hines with questions about his treatment. “Standing at the foot of the bed,” Hines recalled, “I answered his questions about chemotherapy and radiation with as much aplomb as I could muster.” Then came the bombshell. “I want to die,” Guillermo sighed. “I am thinking of ways to end it all.” “Taking a deep breath, I took a seat,” Hines remembered, “looked level into his eyes, and wondered quietly how in the world I was going to deal with this. “I could handle the carpool mayhem that I had created at home, I could even handle his AIDS once therapy had been started, but I felt totally inadequate helping him with these suicidal feelings.” Hines’ mind raced. Ordinarily in these situations, doctors order suicide precautions and a psychiatric consult. Guillermo had applied for public aid and would certainly have been approved soon given the late stage of his illness. “The psychiatrist would be less than pleased with me for asking them to see a patient with no insurance the night before Thanksgiving,” he thought. “But they would come in, reluctantly, if I insisted. Guillermo would be given large doses of antidepressants, sedated, and a sitter would stay in his room until someone decided that he was no longer a threat to himself. “But then what?” For some reason, Hines decided that the normal standard of care wouldn’t do for Guillermo that evening.
Finding the light Photo by Sam Hines
“AS A PATIENT, YOUR ANTENNA is at max reception,” explained Dallas cardiologist Dr. Stephen Johnston ’71. “You’re taking in everything the doc says as well as expressions, body language, etc.” That was never truer than for a 56-year-old patient coming to see the 39-year-old Johnston for the first time in 1992. Facing his second heart bypass surgery, the patient knew the risks and Johnston didn’t sugar-coat them. “A second bypass is four to five times more risky than the first,” Johnston said. “There is a 10 percent mortality rate. But there is also a great chance that you’ll do fine and live a very long life.” This upbeat appraisal was received warmly by Abbot Denis Farkasfalvy. “With every life-threatening disease,” said the abbot recently, “if you are by yourself, it can be difficult. Steve accompanies his patients on their journey.” “I am sure I am a very special patient for Steve,” he admitted, “but I wonder how many other patients feel the same way.” “Equally important as the medical knowledge one possesses is the ability to communicate,” Johnston insisted. “I am a huge believer in
The Continuum Continuum The
“Nothing can emotionally prepare you to cope and interact with family members and loved ones,” said Dr. Stefan Thiele ’89, a general surgeon who practices in Tyler. “There are no clinical rotations that can simulate the burden that rests upon a physician’s shoulders to help convey sympathy and understanding towards those who have suffered a loss. “I have never looked forward to or felt completely comfortable having to tell someone about a terminal illness, surgical complications, or death.” “It’s a process of discovery for most doctors,” suggested Dr. Derek Smith ’82, a neurologist specializing in Multiple Sclerosis in Connecticut.
“W
hen I deal with death,” said Dallas gastroenterologist Dr. Joe Shelton ’91, “the main issue I think about is family. The ‘best’ deaths tend to be those in which all the family is clear on the wishes of the dying/deceased.”
Dr. David Hines’ unconventional therapy served patient and doctor equally well by David E. Stewart
Guillermo and David Hines ’72 share coff ee after Summer 2007Thanksgiving dinner.
“On the flip side,” he said, “a frustrating situation that many docs deal with is the estranged family. We often see dying patients who are not close to their next-of-kin. “Typically, a son will fly in from out of state to attend his dying mother, and be racked with guilt that he did not keep in touch with his mom. Now at the bedside, he will attempt to make up for years of neglect by pressing the medical team to perform a medical miracle, which is often not possible. “These situations are frustrating for everyone involved, particularly if there is reason to believe that the patient would not have wanted extraordinary measures taken.” Frequently, members of a family can find themselves at various points in the process of accepting the fate of their loved one. “A wife of the patient may not be ready to hear bad news,” said Dr. Angel Gomez ’91, who runs an urgent care clinic in Phoenix. “She may be too close to the situation. One of her children may be more willing to see the big picture more objectively, but you have to approach them carefully or risk being outnumbered. It’s best to go slowly.”
“Damn it Guillermo, why don’t you just come to my house for Thanksgiving?” Hines bellowed. “What he needed more than anything,” Hines recalled recently, “was a break from the realities of his terminal disease and to be around people who didn’t know about his diagnosis.” “It was just one of those executive decisions,” he added, “made on the spur of the moment without consulting the backup carpooler, wife, and mother of my three children.”
helped his. “Recently, an off-duty police officer handed me a summons to appear in court for some case I couldn’t even recall. In the mail I found notices from my insurance carrier that my premiums were doubling, a silly graph illustrating how my patients stay longer at the hospital than other doctors’ patients, and an article detailing Medicare cuts which Congress has in store for next year. “Beautiful! Was it just me or was the world about to implode? It was enough to make me suicidal. Then Guillermo came to
“I would be honored,” smiled the maestro, as the weight of the world appeared to be lifted from his shoulders. At the Hines household the next day, Guillermo was introduced as a friend from the hospital. He came bearing gifts for the Hines children. The doctor said grace and the Thanksgiving feast commenced. After dinner, the doctor and his secret patient drank coffee together. The maestro was driven home by an unsuspecting aunt and uncle. Guillermo did finally obtain public assistance and HIV medications, but he succumbed to his disease the following year. “After he died,” Hines reflected, “I came to realize that Guillermo has benefited my mental health as much as I might have
my rescue. “He reminded me of the impact a simple gesture can have on another individual. The patient was now helping the doctor. Now that was a different way of looking at it! “Suddenly, the sorry state of medical affairs was relegated to a back seat on the crowded bus that is my brain, far behind family, friends, and the new dent my daughter added to my left front bumper. “Guillermo showed me that in giving, you also receive. “I will never forget that Thanksgiving dinner with the maestro and my family,” Hines added. “I cannot think of another Thanksgiving that was as meaningful.” 13
Photo by Jim Reisch
“I think,” Derek Smith added, “most people have their own ideas about life and death, but for the most part those ideas are to some degree unexplored. Sometimes their beliefs emerge only when they’re forced to deal with these issues.” Smith, who also is a clinical assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, points out that patients who do not worship regularly may not have a religious figure to counsel them. “In those cases, the physician has to step into that role.” But stepping into that role requires the ability to assess and appreciate the views of the patient and their family. “Anything that occurs before and after our physical life,” said Dr. Jeremy Long ’90, an internist in Denver, “is a subject of debate that involves religion, theology, ethics, and personal values. “I think Cistercian gave me the groundwork to value different beliefs about death and dying. The privilege of being with a patient and his or her family at the end of life is the type of situation that makes me cherish my Cistercian education.” “It is rewarding to know that families feel supported as they make very difficult decisions,” he said. “If the patient is lucid, it is rewarding to know that they feel positive energy as they struggle with the final decisions they make.” “It is a vocation,” added internist Dr. Jim Bush ’73 who practices in Fort Collins, Colorado, “and we need to be not just technicians, but humans — trained, competent, and compassionate — who view people not as cases, but as human beings in their greatest need. “If you can’t reach them as people, you won’t meet all their needs.” “IT KEEPS YOU HUMBLE,” insisted Bush, “and you just get more humble all the time.” “I used to be cocky and felt pretty smart when I ‘kept someone 14
STUDYING PALLIATIVE CARE At UT Southwestern, George Cruz ’91 is researching how terminal cancer patients deal with their condition physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, spiritually, and socially. from dying.’ But watching them suffer for two months in an ICU and then die anyway makes you wonder how much good you did them. “There is a time to fight like hell and a time to let go. “I always keep in mind how hard it was when it was time to let my own father go. Who could be cocky after that?” “I can not stress the importance of family enough,” said Chicago infectious diseases specialist Dr. David Hines ’72. “My wife and I both came from large Catholic families that continue to have reunions every year. If you try to treat patients as if they were part of the family, you invariably do the right thing every time.” “I get comfort relieving the guilt families experience watching a loved one die,” Hines added. “They are often faced with difficult decisions about whether or not to operate or place the patient on a ventilator. I point out to them that there are no right or wrong decisions, just decisions that they would want if they were lying in the bed instead. “It’s a corollary of the Golden Rule that has always served me well. It also comes up when families don’t want to tell the patient that they have cancer for fear of discouraging them. I always turn that selfish argument around and ask, ‘If you had cancer and everyone knew but you, would you like me to tell you?’” “Having lost a parent to an aggressive cancer,” said Jeremy Long, “I have always accepted end-of-life situations as a part of my medical practice. Each time a patient has passed away — I remember most of these events vividly — I have felt a The Continuum
For advice on selecting a medical career, please visit cistercian.org/school bond to the patients and their families. “It has really helped me gain perspective on how to prioritize issues regarding patients. For example, if I learn a patient has suffered a massive recurrence of cancer, their cholesterol level suddenly loses its importance.” “Over time, I have become more comfortable with people experiencing anguish,” said Derek Smith. “It’s become easier for me to communicate with them because I have a much better intuitive understanding of the thoughts they’re having. “I’ve become more adept at abiding with them in their pain. The last thing you want is to make them feel like you don’t have a hand to extend to them.”
“I know in my own family experience, if an ‘Aunt Mary’ is diagnosed with stomach cancer and the doctor explains to the family that this isn’t a fight we’re going to win, the family says, ‘Let’s make
“My most treasured gifts have come from these patients who, through it all, continued to express their gratitude for my being there for them.”
I
ronically, today’s doctors are occasionally victimized by their own success and medicine’s many advancements. Patients and their families have come to expect miracles. “In my residency at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale,” remembered Dr. Angel Gomez ’91, “many of our patients flew their private jets to be treated there. “To them, death is what happens when the doctor doesn’t take care of you.” And even some doctors may have unreasonable expectations. “It is common to encounter specialists who encourage their patients to pursue increasingly aggressive treatments,” commented George Cruz ’91 who is conducting research on terminal cancer patients, under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Paulk, at UT Southwestern’s and Parkland’s Oncology and Palliative Care Clinics. Palliative care (from the Latin palliare, to cloak) is not to be confused with hospice care. Patients in palliative care have cancers that will not respond to treatment. Once it has been determined that further treatment will be fruitless, patients are given the option of palliative care, which seeks to maximize comfort and, if the time comes, to help patients transition into hospice care, if they so desire. Cruz is examining how cancer has impacted the lives of patients — and their caregivers — physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, spiritually, and socially. “I have learned that when someone is facing their own mortality,” said Cruz, “what becomes important are the things that most people take for granted. Simply being able to communicate how they are feeling — having a shoulder to lean on or an open ear to listen to them — is essential. “While there are patients who are angry at their situation, I have encountered others who have some of the greatest outlooks on life. “The world becomes so vivid. For them, every day is a blessing, and is appreciated so much.” Palliative care, which is far more common in Canada and Europe, is being widely accepted in the Hispanic community, according to Angel Gomez. “Now that I run an urgent care clinic in Phoenix, I see a very different view of life and medicine than the one I experienced at the Mayo Clinic.” “When you start talking about death with Hispanics,” he said, “they are more practical about things.”
Summer 2007
— Dr. Jim Bush ’73 her as comfortable as possible at home rather than have her stay in the hospital.’” “Perhaps you could say that limited funds breed practicality,” he said. “Or perhaps some cultures simply have more of an understanding that death is just part of life.”
“DEATH ISN’T OUR ENEMY,” Jim Bush tells his patients. “It is unnecessary, premature or painful death that is the enemy.” Still he finds it hard telling patients that they have a terminal illness and then watching them decline. And yet, “some of my most treasured gifts have come from these patients who, through it all, continued to express their gratitude for my honesty and for my being there for them.” “Working with people and sharing their lives, issues, and secrets has definitely changed how I see society and people,” said Dr. Donald Kopf ’85, a psychologist in Hawaii who has dealt with many suicidal patients. “I see how much each of us has in common no matter what our culture, ethnicity or religious values. I see how fragile our brains and minds are and how even seemingly insignificant events can stress any of us to the point of showing signs of mental disorder. “I also see the beauty that humans are capable of and how truly resilient we can be. Some people face amazing on-going adversity and bounce back each time with dignity, hope, and faith intact. Being part of that can be inspiring and uplifting.” Mark Shrime and his wife, both confessed “slaves to medicine,” are taking a break from their practices for the next few months. But they haven’t forsaken their scrubs or their passion for helping people. Beginning in July, they began volunteering their services with Mercy Ships, the world-wide charity that operates hospital ships to deliver free world-class health care and community development services to the forgotten poor. Shrime and his wife are anchored off the coast of Sierra Leone. “It’s not uncommon that, in my mind’s eye, I see the fathers when I’m talking to patients,” said Shrime, whose father, Dr. George Shrime, passed away from cancer during the last week of younger brother Ryan’s senior year at Cistercian. During his father’s final days, Cistercian priests provided a nearconstant presence in the hospital room along with the family. “Thinking back on the role of the priests at that time,” he said, “it has definitely influenced me. As doctors, we try to practice empathy. “It’s easier when you’ve seen a true example of it in real life.” email: david@stewartpublications.com
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Heavy weight
Presidential Scholar Michael Montoya ’07 set some academic and weight-lifting records that may never be broken by Tom Pruit
S
Michael Montoya ’07 and his father, Mike, who helped guide and inspire his son’s weightlifting.
Photo by Jim Reisch
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OMEONE SUGGESTED replacing Janet Bucher-Long’s name on the door to the college counselor’s office with “Michael Montoya’s assistant.” Bucher-Long loved the idea. Michael Montoya ’07 had spent more time in and around the college counseling office than any other senior. He labored endlessly, poring over the stacks of catalogues, both hard copy and on-line, comparing college profiles and curricula as he refined his own goals and narrowed his choices. He asked questions endlessly, probing Bucher-Long’s sure knowledge and vast experience. Before long he had absorbed a rather copious amount of knowledge himself, which he was quite willing to share, often as he stood in the doorway of her office. “Yet Michael was shy about asking for my time; he was always aware that his classmates needed to see me as well,” Bucher-Long reflected. “Michael was always a team player, and as the long college selection process wore on, he became even more so, giving others the benefit of his own exhaustive search.” “The word that keeps coming back to me about Michael is ‘relentless,’” remarked Steve McCarthy, head football and track coach at Cistercian. “Michael was a hard worker and a perfectionist in everything he did; he carried those traits from the classroom to the field and the weight room. “He never just went through the motions,” McCarthy added. “If he was going to do it, he was going to do it well. He was going to strive to put a mark of excellence on it.” His record of AP exams comes to mind. Montoya took 17 (yes, seventeen) AP’s in all (a new Cistercian record). He scored a 4 or 5 on most of them (5 is the highest possible score) despite the fact that class work at Cistercian prepared him for fewer than half of the exams. Montoya spent literally hundreds of hours studying on his own to prepare for the remainder. “What the heck is ‘human geography’ anyway?” quipped Bucher-Long, after The Continuum
having spotted this rare AP subject among those on Montoya’s extensive list. Montoya’s eyes lit up and his face grew animated as he replied, “I didn’t know either, so I thought I’d find out.” Having scored a 5, he did find out. Montoya regrets that he couldn’t add an eighteenth test to the list: German. “I just couldn’t find the time,” he said. “Michael’s psyche is one that is finetuned to challenges — of all sorts,” remarked Fr. Gregory Schweers, his form master. “The multiple AP’s is just one phase of that, maintaining the perfect 4.0 is another, and weightlifting still another. But together they fall under the same rubric: Michael loves a challenge!” In fourth form, he began to lift weights. By his senior year, Montoya had set school records in every weight lifting category in his weight class and won every event he entered at the Texas Private School Powerlifting Competition. “I taught him the basics,” said his dad Mike Montoya, who won a state powerlifting title himself in high school, “Then I just monitored while he lifted. He’s definitely got the build for strength. “It takes a lot of desire to power lift,” he added. “Every week the weights are heavier and the concentration has to be higher. From the beginning Michael showed tremendous desire.” His relentless pursuit of weight-lifting excellence followed the same pattern as his enthusiastic eight-year march toward valedictory honors. “I think Michael has never let grades become a grind,” Fr. Gregory said, “because he knew that he could master almost any amount of work, if he just gave it the proper time and attention.” For Montoya the great lessons are not expressed in lofty generalities but in pithy statements which stay closer to earth — and to home. “I’m not sure I’ve learned any ‘great lessons’ yet,” he said, “but going through this whole college selection process, I’ve learned that as a person, you’ve got to learn to walk a fine line between never underestimating yourself while also not going so far as to lose sight of humility.” Once the conversation turns serious, Montoya gravitates quickly toward another favorite theme, gratitude to school and family. “Cistercian gave me the opportunity to discover what I was truly capable of,” Summer 2007
he insisted. “I just went through my years here trying to do my best to stay on top of its challenging curriculum. Then all of a sudden, totally unexpectedly, honors started accruing. It was like an added bonus.” But he reserves his greatest gratitude for his parents. “My parents are truly the source of my inspiration,” he emphasized. “They have given me so much in my life, and especially the privilege of a Cistercian education, a privilege that has required many sacrifices on their part.” “Michael’s relationship with his parents
A consummate team player, both on the football field and in the classroom, Montoya befriended all, even those with whom he seemed to have little in common. Take Alex Tong, an Asian-American classmate whose prowess with violin and piano compared favorably with Montoya’s prowess in the weight room. “Alex was my exact opposite,” Montoya explained. “His strengths were my weaknesses. His religion was unknown to me. His outlook on life was unfamiliar. And most of all, he had everything in the world to teach me.” And learn he did. “His multiple talents have inspired me,” Montoya said, “and I’ve been truly strengthened by his religion and positive outlook. I’m grateful for his friendship.” So grateful, in fact, that the night Montoya heard he had been named a Presidential Scholar (there were only 141 named in the entire nation), he opted against spending the evening celebrating. Instead, he sat on the front row of the Cistercian theater watching Alex and three other classmates perform their senior recitals. “That was just too good to miss,” Montoya said. Being recognized as a Presidential — Michael Montoya ’07 Scholar — he is only the second Cistercian student to achieve this honor has been one of remarkable independence — culminated Montoya’s Cistercian career on the one hand and deep reverence on the in style. It was made even sweeter when other,” observed Fr. Greg. he learned that — after he had undergone This desire to honor his parents — and to additional screening, essay writing, and earn college scholarship monies — faced a interviewing — he was selected out of a major obstacle in his senior year. pool of 55 scholars for a 12-member team to A man of few, pithy words, Montoya travel to the People’s Republic of China for found that earning the prestigious two weeks in July. scholarships he sought would depend in “I have to say that of all my large part on interviews, which were most accomplishments, I am proudest of this assuredly not Montoya’s forte. honor,” he acknowledged. “It represents “Michael’s growth in the interview the pinnacle of four great years of high process was truly remarkable,” reflected school and incorporates all areas of being a Bucher-Long. “He developed a convincing, student.” genuine personal narrative out of his In the fall Montoya will matriculate at willingness to write draft after draft of Wake Forest University, having received multiple essays until he had a veritable the Reynolds Scholarship, the highest award arsenal of his own stories to tell.” given to an incoming freshman. He hopes to All this effort was not directed merely go on to medical school with the intent of at “getting in” but in telling the story coming out as an orthopedic surgeon. accurately. Along the way we can be sure of at least “He was very coachable,” said Bucher- one thing — Montoya will continue to learn, Long. “Never did he say, ‘This is done,’ but following his nose down many roads ‘less ‘What do you think of this, and how can I traveled by’ while keeping his ultimate goal in improve it?’ His humility throughout the mind. And that’s the surest path to happiness. email: tpruit@cistercian.org process was inspiring.”
“My parents have
given me so much in my life, and especially the privilege of a Cistercian education, a privilege that has required many sacrifices on their part.”
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sports
Hawks prevail in two of three PKs at SPC Photo courtesy of www.puentephotography.com
The young Hawks’ soccer squad certainly faced its share of challenges this season. The team lost one of its stars before the season even started – Matthew Abola ’07 to a knee injury – and had a number of players stepping into new roles on the varsity level. The setbacks, though, did not unravel the Hawks, who struggled in the early part of the season but came on strong in the SPC Tournament. “I think we knew we were going into a difficult year,” Head Coach Rob Kowalski said. “I was concerned where goals would come from. “The highlight of the year,” he said, “was certainly the SPC tourney.” Entering the SPC Division II Championships following four losses, JUGGLING Paul Pesek ‘09 controls the ball against John Cooper at SPC. the Hawks did not have grandiose expectations. In the first game, the team finished the second and third tournament battled John Cooper to a 1-1 tie at the end matches tied with St. Stephen’s and of regulation. Although the Hawks lost Episcopal Houston at the end of regulation. that match in penalty kicks, the experience The young team, though, prevailed in those contests, finishing the year with back-toproved vital. As against John Cooper, the Hawks back wins.
“The core of the team was definitely sophomores and juniors,” Kowalski said. Especially in the SPC tournament, Simon Raad ’08, the team’s goalie and MVP, made huge save after huge save. Among the other non-seniors who stepped up, Jordan Beardslee ’08 led the team in scoring and freshman Joe Graham ’10 was the newcomer of the team and played “almost everywhere,” Kowalski said. Next year’s team has to look forward to all the returning players it will have, minus Patrick Gargan ’07, the senior forward who provided the team with leadership and experience. The team will also be without Kowalski, who is taking some time off from coaching and teaching to spend some more time with his growing family (a second child is on the way). Kowalski will be replaced by J.P. Walsh, an assistant varsity soccer coach at Hockaday, whom Kowalski said should do a wonderful job. — Sean Moroney ’05
Welch leads b-ballers through rebuilding year
Photo courtesy of www.puentephotography.com
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After losing ten players to graduation from last season’s squad, the 200708 basketball team had many holes to fill. “It was a rebuilding year for us, certainly,” said Dan Lee, the varsity’s head coach. “We had only one returning varsity player, Kyle Welch ’07. He was our only senior starter this season.” The high point of the season, though, came before the SPC Tournament at home against Holland Hall Feb. 2. Facing the school from Tulsa that had not lost an SPC North Zone game entering that contest, the Hawks surprised the Dutchmen. After squandering a lead late in the game, the Hawks held steady, hit some clutch free throws and won 62-61. “Biggest win of the year had to be Holland Hall,” Lee said. “We ended up playing our best game of the year, playing with a lot of confidence and hitting some big shots, including one from Charlie Hoedebeck ’08.” Although the Hawks only captured the first of their three games in the SPC Championships, the team played really well, Lee said, defeating John Cooper in the first contest and barely falling to Fort Worth Country Day and Oakridge in the next two. The Hawks were led by Welch, who garnered all-SPC honors by grabbing a team-leading 5.2 rebounds per game. He was also third on the team in scoring. James Hinckley ‘07 took most improved honors and Giancarlo Carleo ‘09, the team’s leading scorer averaging 8.3 points per game, was the newcomer of the year. — Sean Moroney ’05 FAST BREAK Daniel Stewart ‘08, the Hawks’ 2nd leading scorer, lays it in against Greenhill.
The Continuum
Photo courtesy of www.puentephotography.com
sports
Young track team performs admirably
HITTING AWAY Mike Guiltinan ‘08 slams one vs. Houston St. John’s at SPC.
Hawks bolstered by strong pitching The Hawks baseball team had its ups and downs this season. Facing stiff competition from the beginning to the end, the Hawks relied on their solid pitching to win games, while struggling to put runs on the scoreboard. “We had our good days and bad days,” Head Coach Mark Gray said. “But overall, it was a good season. I normally schedule pretty good teams to get us ready for the SPC tournament. So, the boys saw some pretty strong competition.” The Hawks picked up some of their biggest wins in the middle of the season, with SPC victories over Oakridge, Holland Hall and Trinity Valley. Closing out those games on top helped prepare the Hawks for the SPC Tournament, Gray said. One of the seniors and leaders on the team, H.T. Flanagan ’07, was the Hawks’ number one pitcher, finishing the season with a 2.81 ERA. Chase Campbell ’07 gave the Hawks a boost on the offensive end, hitting close to
.300 on the year. The Hawks were a young team, starting two freshmen and two sophomores for much of the season. The team built up its confidence as the season progressed, Gray said. The year culminated at the SPC Tournament, May 3-4. The Hawks opened the tournament at home against Houston St. John’s. Pitching a stellar game, Flanagan only gave up three runs – all three scores coming in one inning. The Hawks, though, could not get the bats going and fell 3-1. On the road the next day, the Hawks battled back from an early 8-0 deficit but eventually dropped a close contest to Holland Hall, 11-9. Their third game of the tournament and final of the season was a different result. The Hawks walloped St. Mary’s Hall, 12-2. “We had a very young team,” Gray said. “I was proud of these boys. They battled it out every game.” — Sean Moroney ’05
SPORTS BRIEFS Swimmers finish sixth at SPC The Hawks placed sixth at SPC behind nationally ranked Matt Roney ’10. The 400-yard freestyle relay team (Tyler Freeman ’10, Roney, Michael Lawson ’09, and Bryan Hsu ’08) finished in third place. The 200-yard medley relay team (Philip Tarpley ’08, Stephen Wang ’07, Roney, and Freeman) finished sixth. The 200-yard freestyle relay team
Summer 2007
(Roney, Hsu, Nicholas Shea ’08, and Ian McLaughlin ’08) finished sixth. Wang was named All-SPC.
Tennis team places 2nd at SPC-II The team was led by singles players Warner Sallman ’07, Winston Rice ’07, and Devin Jourde ’07 (All-SPC).
The Hawks narrowly lost the Division II championship 2-3 in the fifth and deciding match of the tournament.
The Hawks’ track and field athletes rarely finished on top of the leader board this season. But that did not mean the team was not racking up points and staying in the hunt throughout the season. “With all these meets, we did not have anybody that finished in the top three,” said Steve McCarthy, head coach. “Most of our points were scored in fourth, fifth and sixth place finishes. At Greenhill, we finished second overall, and none of our guys won a single event.” Along with the second place finish at Greenhill, March 23-24, the Hawks placed third in the public school meet at Castlebury High School Feb. 24. The team captured its only overall victory of the season at Cistercian, and individually, Patrick Spence ’08 and Daniel Stewart ’08 won the two hurdles events. “We had some kids that really stepped up,” McCarthy said. “In the hurdles especially, Spence took first in the 300 and had his best time of the year.” Although the team had very few seniors, a few members of the Class of 2007 stepped up as leaders. The trio of senior throwers – Kyle Welch ’07, Michael Montoya ’07 and Alden Harris ’07 – and two runners – Kerr Friedman ’07 and Tom Davey ’07 – were consistent all season, McCarthy said. At the SPC Championships, the Hawks placed eighth overall. The 4x400-meter relay team (Tom Davey ’07, Chris Martinez ’09, Michael Massad ’08 and Connor Haley ’09) ran 3:33.88 for a fourth-place finish. Stewart finished fourth in the triple jump and Haley finished sixth in the 200 meter. The 4x100-meter team (Jordan Beardslee ’08, Haley, Friedman, and Max Tenney ’09) finished sixth. McCarthy said his team finished about where he thought it would at SPCs, and he was pleased with the result. Stewart and Haley, the team’s leading and secondleading point men respectively, were named co-Most Valuable. The Hawks will look to build on this season’s success in 2008. — Sean Moroney ’05 19
When one side consumes the other, it spells trouble I ’m the comic relief guy for The Continuum, or at least, I try to be. But how much humor can you create in an edition with a primary feature on doctors and the life and death decisions they face? Yeah, that is what I thought too. I could tell a few good doctor jokes but doctors are as easy to make fun of as lawyers, so what’s the point? Well, maybe just one: Okay, this cardiologist walks into a bar…(the following paragraph was censored by Fr. Peter). Now, that is a funny joke. Actually, this has been a tough column for me to write. It’s Sunday night, deadline has long since passed, and I have written about 5,000 Afterthoughts words over the past week and accomplished Smokey Briggs ’84 nothing past frustrating myself. Well, until now. As often the case, my girls came to my rescue — all three of them. Since November my usually busy life has become a vast timesucking whirlpool. We live in the oil patch of West Texas, and, in case you have not noticed as you fill up the family sled, oil is worth money again. That is good when you own a little newspaper in the oil patch. I actually smile while I pump $3-a-gallon gas into mom’s Suburban. There is a downside however — the oilfield pays very well. Very, very, very well. I have been thinking about closing the newspaper and hiring on as a rig hand. All my pressmen did just that. Every non-oilfield business out here has the same problem. Since November, I have been my own pressman. Usually I have two full-time men and at least one part-time. Since November it has been the part-time guy and me. “Busy” is not an adequate description of my life. While I do not perform life-saving operations, I, being human, think what I do for a living matters. It is my livelihood. It is how I put shoes on my girls’ feet, a roof over their heads, and buy groceries. So, as I was sitting at my desk staring at the fairly meaningless words I had typed, my girls tumbled into the room — Ruby age 9, Carson Mae age 6 and Dixie Jo age 20 months — like Mongols on a raid they enveloped me. They wanted to play. They wanted me to help build a fort. They wanted me to play Scrabble. They wanted me to wrestle on the trampoline. They wanted… all weekend it has been a long list, and all weekend I have had more important things to do. I have a list of honey-do’s as long as my arm. The carb on my rover has an air leak at the throttle body, and the engine is running lean. That will burn a valve if you do not fix it. Faucets leaking, screws missing, donkeys that need their feet looked after, a trailer with a flat tire, a column to write for The Continuum, another to write for the coming edition of The Monahans News, copy to edit for tomorrow…the list goes on and on. “Sorry girls, your Dad has to work,” I told them. “Pleassseeeee!” Ruby and Carson said. “BleaahhhhAaaeeeee,” Dixie Jo said. “No, off you go.” “Yes, Sir,” the older girls dutifully said. “BleaahhhhAeeeeNo,” Dixie Jo said. But, she followed her sisters with only the slightest hint of a dirty look for me.
Summer 2007
Back to the computer and my jumble of words. And then I shook my head, got up, said something in my head that I cannot print here, and walked out the door to go wrestle and build a fort and play Scrabble and answer questions like, “If dinosaurs were alive today, could we eat them?” I had a fine afternoon. For a portion of it, I actually forgot about my impending deadlines, budgets, payrolls, columns, leaking carburetors and the like. At bedtime I tucked three little girls into bed with hugs and kisses and smiles. They had a good day. I gave them the only gift us humans can give to each other that matters — some of my time. (And, I was well rewarded in return, I assure you). And, they wrote my column for me. After reading David Stewart’s article about Cistercian doctors who deal with life-and-death situations, one of Dr. Mark Shrime’s (’92) comments kept coming back to haunt me. “Life and death issues are a daily part of my practice. I didn’t realize going in what I was in for,” he said of his specialty. “It’s a vocation, no two ways about it. It demands your life. It gives you a purpose. But if you’re not careful, it swallows all of you.” Right there, he summed up my life recently, and the danger all of us face every day. God gives us just 24 hours to spend every day. We can spend those hours making money, operating on sick people, and writing really cool columns. And we can spend those hours wrestling on the trampoline with our daughters, having an extra cup of coffee with our wife, and speculating on the taste of a stegosaurus steak. Take your pick. I imagine that for doctors it may be worse, but I know we all hear the sirens that call us to work. Those gals sing sweet songs about duty, important work, money, saving lives, advancing careers, sales, making the world a better place, and all kinds of stuff. And, you cannot ignore them completely. If we did we would all be sitting underneath the pier over the beach in San Diego bumming halfeaten hot dogs off the tourists. (That is my retirement plan, by the way.) We answer those sirens’ songs for lots of good reasons aside from money and glory and the trappings of success too. The question is, “When do you listen to those other sirens?” The ones at home and hearth — friends, wives, children and family? I have known a few very successful men in my 41 years. Not a few, despite their success, were incredibly unhappy because their marriages were catastrophes, and their children were less than what a parent hopes for. Most of these men would have traded their last dime, their crowning achievements and their very lives I think, for a good marriage and/or a child or two that was not a walking disaster of a human being. But you cannot trade after the fact. The trade is made every day, every hour. So, I admire doctors who save lives. My oldest daughter’s life is probably a direct result of such men’s talent and dedication, and I thank God for them every time I look into her smiling eyes. I admire men who work hard at their vocations and avocations. Hard work is good. I even try to imitate such men on occasion. But, there are two sides to that coin. When one side consumes the other, we as people, are in trouble. Each of us is faced with this choice every day. I would say that the choice is between life and death. email: smokey@pecos.net
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Pause and reflect on God’s Word of spirit and life At the end of his life, Jesus sums up his public ministry in these words: “I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day” (Jn 12: 47).
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calendar August 11 Used book/uniform sale 17 Varsity football scrimmage vs. Greenhill 23 Opening ceremonies
email: fr-roch@cistercian.org
Photo courtesy of Michael Tinker ’04
o readers or writers of The Continuum could claim that they have not heard the Word of God. We have heard the words of Scripture many times, perhaps too many times. As the lector stumbles over the words of the reading, we stop listening — perhaps quite unconsciously. We may even know the text by heart, so why listen? But before we become On Prayer completely numb to the words of Scripture, Fr. Roch Kereszty it will be helpful to ponder the words of Jesus quoted above: the words we have heard but have not obeyed will condemn us on the last day. Jesus’ words, however, are not only judgment but “spirit and life” for all those who put them into practice. Human words are simply words: they create sound waves in the air and then fade away. Action, reality lag behind. The words of Jesus, on the other hand, share in the almighty power of the Spirit of God. They create, heal and give life. They turn the water into wine, multiply the loaves, change the bread and wine into his risen body and blood. When we appear before the throne of the Son of Man who will come in judgment, we will see what a glorious masterpiece God had intended to make out of us, if only we had put into practice His words. Each one of us, however, still has time. Out of consideration and mercy, God has extended our deadline. Yet we live on borrowed time. Let us, then, start reading the Scriptures every day, at least for 20 minutes; a gospel passage or a letter of the apostles first. Read until you find a sentence, a phrase or a scene that seems to apply to you; either because it fills you with dread or it lifts you up with joy. Stop there, chew on it, until you begin to see how it will affect your life. Then give thanks to God for what you have received and go on reading in the same way. If you put into practice only one word of Jesus every week, in a few years you will have changed
so thoroughly that you will be unable to recognize your old self in your new self. Your own goodness, serenity and strength will be a great surprise to you. Just make sure not to take credit for the change because this new self, this “new creation,” is fragile enough and will not survive your attempt to steal even a small fraction of God’s glory. Be happy and rejoice that you have been given a share in the risen life of Christ but return all glory and praise to God; to the Father who gave you his Son, to the Son who gave you his life, to the Holy Spirit who clothes you with the Son as a new and shining garment. The most effective way to listen to Jesus is to spend time with Him after Holy Communion. Instead of immersing yourself in the distractions of the day and beating the crowd to the parking lot, stay for a while in the church and listen to Jesus. He may want to remind you of a phrase or sentence from the gospel of the day or another word of his. Fix it solidly in your heart and let it become life and spirit in you.
FRANCISCAN IN OUR MIDST Michael Tinker ’03 (second from right) is shown here with his fellow Franciscan novices at their investiture ceremony last month. Congratulations to the entire Tinker clan.
PREPARATORY SCHOOL 3660 CISTERCIAN ROAD IRVING, TEXAS 75039
September 3 Labor Day holiday October 26 Homecoming football game vs. Southwest Ch.
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The Continuum